


Thomas

by bothetrashmouth



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, No Romance, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Drug Addiction, Post-Canon, Slice of Life, Sort Of, no beta we die like men, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-16 02:24:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18511966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bothetrashmouth/pseuds/bothetrashmouth
Summary: When he finished the last of the papers, he passed them back to the secretary with a  genuine smile. The first one he cracked that day. It was probably because he was finally getting what he wanted, but also could be becausehe was going to a public high school holy shit this is actually kinda cool.Five grinded his teeth together. He couldn’t blink from here on out. He was a normal kid. Named Thomas.Or, the story of Five enrolling himself into High school, and meeting people he didn't intent to call "friends"





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first tua fanfic so im still getting a feel for the characters bear with me

It was only when he got to the building that the anxiety kicked in. Five let out a soft sigh. He had never been to a high school before. Hell, he had only started talking to strangers in cafes and parks in the past year. Maybe this was a bad idea. His social skills weren’t advanced enough to work his way around a school without killing or being killed.

He pushed open the front doors. It’s best not to think about it.

The front lobby was relatively empty, there were a few students, scattered on computers. They didn’t pay him much mind. One kid stared at him for a few seconds, but Five chalked it up to him wearing his Umbrella Academy uniform.

The front office was pretty easy to find. As he followed the signs to the office, he went over all the information in his head. His name, his fake birthday, parents, phone numbers, all of it.

“Good morning.” The lady behind the long counter said as Five walked in. He was trying to fight off his normal scowl. No such luck. Oh well.

“Hello.” Five replied. How the fuck do people do this all the time? Talking? Acting _natural_? “I’d like to talk to the correct person about enrolling into this school at their earliest convenience. Should that be an applicable and appropriate conversation. If you haven't any space, or just have no opportunity for my place, I don’t mind finding somewhere else.”

The lady’s eyebrows raised high up. “Well,” she said, sounding impressed. “I’ll get the forms for you to sign - where are your parents?”

Five clenched his jaw. “They’re very busy, I can give you phone numbers but I’m afraid they wouldn't get back to you for a few days. They’re working a lot.”

The secretary waved it off. “No big deal, we don’t really need them. As long as they know you’re doing this.” she told him, leaning over to the printer to collect a few papers. “Just fill all this out, and I’ll go get a guidance counselor.” she smiled at him, and handed him the papers and a pen.

“Sounds good.”

The woman was about to leave when she swung back around. “What’s your name sweetheart?”

Over the course of a year he’s grown used to being referred to as _young man_ . It wasn’t often he was referred to as _sweetheart_. It made his ears burn.

“Thomas. Hargreeves.” he said, fighting off his blush.

The lady nodded and left the room.

Five settled into one of the seats and began to write his list of lies. Born October 1st, 2002, 16 years old (that was the hardest lie, honestly.) Parents. _Thomas_. It felt weird saying it. It didn’t quite feel like lying. It just felt like he was sharing some deep, dark secret from within his soul.

Thomas was the name Delores gave him, she said it suited his face and personality. She also said it was mathematically most likely to be the name Grace would’ve given him, had he let her give him a name in the first place.

(Five redid the math, much to Dolores’ annoyance, and she was correct.)

(As per usual.)

“Thomas?”

Five’s head perched up. The secretary came back. There was someone else with her. “This is Ms. Fares, she’s head of guidance here.” She told him. Ms. Fares waved. “Once your done with your papers, she’s going to help you with your course selection. Is that okay?”

Jesus, She wants Five to judge his new guidance counselor? Christ these people really do care. “That’s fine.” Five said a little more timid than he had intended, and quickly finished writing down the information for his ‘father’.

Five resisted the urge to snort. Father.

When he finished the last of the papers, he passed them back to the secretary with a  genuine smile. The first one he cracked that day. It was probably because he was finally getting what he wanted, but also could be because he was _going to a public high school holy shit this is actually kinda cool_.

Fares led Five into her office, and gestured for him to have a seat.

“So, Thomas - Thomas? Tom? Tommy?” She started.

“Thomas is fine.”

“Thomas, so because you’re starting late in the year, you credits won’t actually count.”

“That’s fine.” Five said. “I can do other courses online or during the summer or whatever.”

Lies. Five has no idea how to work a computer. She doesn’t need to know that.

“Will you have the time for that? Pearl said you’re a busy person.”

“My family is busy. I usually just sit around doing math.”

“Yeah?” Fares asked, amused and curious. “You like math?”

“Sort of. I’m good at it. I do lots of physics and high level probability. I don’t do it for fun. It just keeps me busy. Makes me feel… productive.” Five admitted. He felt embarrassment bubble in his chest. He _did_ do math to keep busy. But it’s because he doesn’t have any other hobbies.

“Awesome! Well, for your courses, we’ll have to put a bunch of math classes in here, huh?”

Five found himself smiling as he nodded. “Yeah.”

“Do you have other interests? The arts? Science? Phy-ed?”

Five had to think for a minute. He hadn’t really had much time to figure out what his interests were. He been awfully busy with the academy (13 years) and the apocalypse (45 years) and trying to renovate, rehabilitate and realign his family, house and life (1 year).

Jesus, 59 years old and he couldn’t think of any hobbies off the top of his head.

“I like science.” He said, and it was true. “Mostly physics, and quantum physics. Astrophysics. Things like that.”

“Hardcore stuff. Cool.” Fares nodded. “Anything else?”

When the world almost ended, Five and all his siblings wanted to do something to enact change in themselves. Luther’s was to become is own person, Diego’s was to relax more, Allison’s was to spend more time with her family, Klaus’ was to stay sober, and Vanya’s was to see a therapist and try to help her mental health.

Five’s was to be a normal goddamn person. Normal people step out of their comfort zones, and do things maybe they wouldn’t do otherwise. Right?

“I could take a theater class. If.. that’s available.” He said, and Fares smiled.

“It is! I wouldn’t’ve pinned you as the drama type...”

Five resisted the urge to tell her it's because he's  _not_ the drama type, but he held his tongue.

The rest of the meeting took about 20 minutes. Five telling her things he was vaguely interested in, she’d make a comment about it and added it to the timetable. It all felt awfully mundane. Normal. Natural. Five wasn’t familiar with it. It felt a little weird, actually.

After the meeting, she took him to where his locker was (god this was so fucking weird) and gave him a lock.

“We aren’t really supposed to give the students free locks, but you seem like a good kid.” she whispered to him. She reminded him of the Handler. That bitch. But he pushed the comparison aside.

Five opened his new locker and peered into it. It was taller than he was, but also just as skinny.

“We’re supposed to keep _all_ our stuff in here?” He asked sourly.

Fares frowned a bit. “You’ve never had a locker before?”

Five bit his tongue. “I’ve uh... been homeschooled for as long as I can remember.” Oops. Almost let it slip.

The counselor nodded, and began to go on about how students bring their supplies room class to class, typically.

She toured him around the school, pointing out specific things like the bathrooms, the cafeteria, the auditorium.

“I will say, the architecture in this building is quite impressive.” Five commented, running his fingers along the bricks. “Was it built before the great depression? Or after?”

Fares laughed. “Oh, jeez, I don’t know.” she said, and then turned to Five and added; “You’re extremely well spoken for your age, Thomas. I’m excited to see what you do here.”

A smile tugged at Five’s lips as his ears started to burn. “Thank you.”

-

The school was built in the 80s. As it turns out. 1987, to be exact, if the book Five was reading was accurate.

He’d taken refuge in the library, as he frequently did, nowadays. It was both a getaway from the chaos at home as well as normalizing him leaving the house for hours at a time. His siblings have gotten used to not questioning him leaving in the mornings and not coming back until the afternoon. It was prep for him going to high school.

Five twitched. He was going to high school.

He had made the arrangement to start on Monday. It was Thursday. He had another three days to wait around and figure out how to survive high school.

Originally, Five went to the library to study modern pop culture and colloquialism. To catch up on what he missed while he was in the apocalypse and figure out how to be a regular teenager. Then he went back to thinking about the school’s architecture, and the plan got thrown out the window.

“Five?”

With a sigh, Five looked up to see Allison standing there, at the end of the table. She smiled fondly at him. Many of his family members are _still_ in shock over his place back in their lives, and often express the fear that he was going to disappear again.

“Allison.” Five said, putting his book onto his stack (he had prepared 13 books in total. Allison interrupted his 8th.) and lacing his fingers together. “Don’t understand why you say my name like that. It’s obviously me. People who looks my age don’t typically hang around the library. Especially not alone.” He said curtly.

Allison rolled her eyes. “I didn’t want to startle you.”

“Not possible.”

“Sure.” Allison smirked. “Yeah, I believe that.”

Five cocked his head. “Why are you here?”

“I came to pick you up. It’s family dinner night.” the woman replied. She flies in from LA constantly, at least three times a month, while juggling her new movie, and finishing therapy to see Claire again.

Five had spoken once, albeit very briefly, to Claire, over the phone. She seems like a good kid.

“Right.” Five murmured. “Family dinner night.” He sounded more bitter than he intended.

The Hargreeves had dinner together, the lot of them, at least three nights a month. One was a potluck, everyone would make their own dish to share with everyone else (Vanya’s idea), one where Grace would make a meal, and one when they’d all dress up fancy and go to a nice restaurant.

Occasionally, they’d go to McDonald’s or something; when no one wanted to dress nice or remember their manners. Everyone chowing down on gross, greasy food, laughing at Five being offered a kids meal, laughing harder at Five giving the toy to Diego, and Luther needing to bring his own seat over because he doesn’t fit in the booths.

Five would never admit it, but those were his favourite dinners.

He knew how important it was to Allison that he cooperate, so he put his books back and followed her to the car.

“What’re we doing tonight? Grace’s meal?” Five asked, staring out the windshield.

“Yeah. I think she’s making a roast.” Allison replied.

“Again.” Five mumbled, half joking.

“Again.” Allison echoed, breaking into a grin.

“Your flight in alright?” Five didn’t look at his sister, but he did was he could to show he cared. If he didn’t do that, he was _‘a sociopath’_ and _‘a piece of shit_ ’. So he tried to make small talk.

“Actually, there was this storm like halfway through the flight.” Allison admitted, laughing nervously. “I was kind of convinced we were gonna die.”

Five let out a snort. “Doubt it. You fly first class. The worst that could happen is they land you in Detroit or something.”

Allison’s laughter turned genuine. “How about you?” She patted his arm. “How’ve you been? What were you reading?”

“I was trying to catch up on pop culture.” Five explained, adjusting in his seat. “Catch up on the world.”  _Studying how to be a functioning human._

“Klaus making fun of you for not seeing the Bee Movie again?”

“No." pause. "Maybe.” Five twitched. “Okay yes but that’s not why. And I still refuse to see that movie."

Allison laughed again, and it made Five smile (even though he hid it by looking out the window.) as they drove on, the sun had started to set. Five went over the names he had learned, and the things he had seen that day in his head. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diego thanked Grace continuously for the meal, telling her how good it was, and everyone mumbled their thanks as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very very short chapter as a filler;; but its Wholesome Family Content.  
> And exposition.

Grace _was_ making a roast. But she seemed happy with it, and Diego hissed at Allison and Five when they laughed at her.

The family gathered in the kitchen, scattered around and talking. Vanya was already sitting at the table, Diego was helping Grace with setting the table, Luther was fumbling with a bottle of wine, Klaus was draped over the table, talking to Vanya and Allison was going through the fridge. Ben was leaning against the counter, face set in a book, as usual.

Ben had appeared as a full, heartbeat having person after they woke up from Five’s teleportation from the apocalypse. No one - not even Five, try as he might - could figure out why. Klaus insisted it was their love that brought him back, but Five’s money was on the idea that he broke quantum physics. It just sounds cooler that way.

Also he probably broke quantum physics.

Since, Ben hadn’t.. Really done much. He still follows Klaus around a lot, he has his books, and comes and goes at his own accord. The rest of the family push him, mostly out of fear. No one wanted to lose him again. Especially Klaus. He hid anything Ben could hurt himself with. Ben didn’t seem to notice, but everyone was on edge anytime he went into a room alone.

Five stood in the corner, taking deep breaths. Lots of bustling around makes him nervous. Maybe it was because it was so different to the silence of the apocalypse. Ironically enough too much silence made him nervous too.

Everyone was ushered to the table, and began to dig in. It felt like a normal dinner. Which was weird. Five was fidgety as he poked at his baked potato.

He’d gotten so used to not eating full meals (or some days, not eating at all) in the apocalypse that now that he was back he found it difficult to eat more than a few small bites in a meal. He was getting better, yes, last week he had a whole bowl of cereal with his coffee, but it was still frustrating.

Diego thanked Grace continuously for the meal, telling her how good it was, and everyone mumbled their thanks as well.

“So, Five-” Luther started, and Diego huffed, as he did when Luther did anything. It made Klaus snort. Luther glared at both of them. “What did you do today? Go to the library?” he asked Five, politely.

“Yes.” Five nodded. “I did.”

“ _Was für eine Überraschung!_ ” Klaus grinned, he practiced his German (or whatever language he could) frequently, mostly at meals. “What’d you read up? Bee Movie?”

“No-”

Vanya, ever the peacekeeper, cut Five off before he yelled at Klaus again about some stupid movie. “I was looking into this book about the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Five, maybe that would interest you.” Vanya said softly. “It’s called _Good Omens_.”

Five frowned. “Not sure I’ve heard of it.”

“Oh, Ben read that one!” Klaus pointed, and then turned to Ben himself, who had mumbled something. “Didn’t you?”

Ben shook his head, very lightly.

“Oh.” He looked back to the rest of the table. “No he didn’t. My bad.”

Ben still wasn’t used to being alive again, which was forgivable, and as such he was really shy. He didn’t really talk to anyone but Klaus or Vanya, occasionally he’d throw in his two cents for a conversation but mostly he was content to just listen. Klaus was the only one to push Ben even remotely. No one else made him do anything he didn’t want to, including Five. He liked Ben’s presence, even if he was shy. If he didn’t want to socialize, Five wouldn’t force him.

The meal went as predicted. They chatted about what came to mind. They ate the food Grace made (which, though they’d probably never say it, was really good) and tried not to say anything that would make it awkward.

Because yeah, it was still a little weird.

When they first started doing this, they all clammed up at the mention of the apocalypse or Vanya having powers. Like it was a sacred subject. Eventually, it was Vanya who made a joke about it, then the subject loosened up. It was still a awkward, sometimes, but they’ve gotten significantly closer. It was sort of nice.

After dinner, everyone began to go their separate ways; Vanya had a therapy appointment, Allison was driving her, Luther wanted to go see a movie in theaters, and Five watched Diego help Grace clean up.

He also watched Klaus do what he had been doing after every meal for a few months at that point.

Klaus had lots of time to “find himself” and get hobbies since he got sober. He had been learning German, studying his own abilities, helping around the house with Grace and Diego and trying to learn piano.

He led Ben outside, making him continue to eat his dinner (Ben wasn’t used to eating, full stop.) and had Ben stand in the middle of the garden, trying to make him levitate.

No such luck, after several minutes, Ben stayed, sweatpants and hoodie, unmoving other than chewing the roast and blinking between his dinner, Klaus and Five, who had been watching with subtle amusement.

Klaus eventually gave up, waving his hands at his favourite brother, who smiled a bit, and, much to Five’s interest, talked all the way back inside.  
“I know I almost got it! I can feel it in my soul! In my bones! It’s there, like a- like a piece of popcorn caught in your teeth-” (“ _That’s disgusting_ ”) “-if I can just pop the corn out-!”

Five watched them go, Ben gave him a small wave as they disappeared inside. Leaving Five alone in the eerie courtyard.

The garden was fucking creepy, everyone sort of _knew_. Even though Klaus never saw the ghost of Sir Hargreeves, all bets were placed that if he wandered around anywhere, it’d be here. Five could almost picture the old brat, staring coldly at the blooming flowers Grace diligently planted months ago, all blossomed to perfection. He’d find some reason to dislike them, to be disappointed with the flowers like he did everything else on this stupid planet.

What. A. Douche.

Five closed his eyes, breathing slowly. Meditation was one of the supposed ways to help oneself and ease anxiety (something of which Five an abundance of) and though it hasn’t proven to work yet, it wouldn’t stop Five from trying.

He took seven deep, slow breaths, trying to let the quiet soothe him, focusing in on the gentle clunking and clicking of plates and murmurs between his family coming from just inside, the sound of the wind and bustling of leaves-

Five dropped his posture; still not working. And too his left, Diego hung off the door frame.

“What’re you doing?” he said it more as a statement rather than a question.

“Does it matter?” Five snapped, then more softly, added. “Is there something you needed Diego?”

Diego seemed to shift a little at the use of his name, unused to Five saying it, but he hid it well. (Not well enough for Five, but his loss.) “Mom wanted to know if you want to have some dessert.”

Five thought for a minute, turning briefly back to the garden. It was still eerie. He could stomach an ice cream sandwich in half an hour.

“I’ll have something in a bit.” He decided. “Anything else?” he turned to his brother, who was walking up next to him quietly.

Again, Diego shifted uncomfortably, but this time Five sort of understood why.

“Uh.. You uh-” Diego paused, trying to find the words. “You doing alright?” He tapped Five on the shoulder like it was the nicest thing he could do without Five slapping him. (He wasn’t far off, honestly.)

Diego had been spending his year, like all his siblings, adjusting and changing. For him it was changing the way he treats people he cares about. He’s trying to “Find his soft spot” as he put it.

(“You’ve always had a soft spot.” Klaus had smiled. “Now you’re just letting us see it!” “Whatever.” Diego had replied.)

This meant that Diego checked in on his siblings (specifically Ben, Klaus (mostly Klaus) and Five) and awkwardly asked them how they were feeling if he suspected they weren’t doing great.

Five would be lying if he said he didn’t appreciate the caring nature Diego had, but the way he executes this nature always made sure Five didn’t take him seriously.  
“I’m alright.” he said. “I’m finding better hobbies. Starting to list my issues.”

“That’s good.” Diego nodded, then frowned. “That’s good, right?”

Five shrugged. “It’s a step forward.”

Diego nodded again.

“You know what,” Five turned up to look at Diego, a perpetually widened gaze blinked back at the younger man. “I could go for an ice cream sandwich. Care to join me?”

Diego raised his eyebrows and smirked as Five began to head inside. “Are you getting mushy with me old man?”

“I don’t know the meaning of the word.” Five told him.

Diego followed him inside, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Klaus' german translates (via google lol) to :"What a surprise!"

**Author's Note:**

> Okay for reference, they stopped the apacolypse, and everyone's okay and trying to be better people. Vanya has powers, Reggie is still dead but Ben alive babey!!
> 
> I'll probably go through how/why/just go through it in future chapters but we'll see how well this fic does first lol
> 
> you can find me on tumblr too: parasolschool.tumblr.com


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